10-29-1981

Page 1

OCTOBER 29,1981

VOLUME 9 4 - I S S U E 7

College Cancel s UNIVAC Computer System

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Maria Nicholas serves dessert at the International Food Fair held last Saturday. (Photo by Tom Wagner)

Food Fair: Bigger and Better by Laurie J.Brown The aroma of ethnic cuisine wafted through the air as the International Rela-' tions Club held its annual Internatioal Food Fair on Saturday, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Kletz "This is the fourth time we have had the fair, and it gets bigger and better every year,"explained Veronica Cortes, senior exchange student from Chile. Cortes was in charge of this year's fair and felt the program came off smoothly. There were twenty-six countries represented induing Eritrea, Malaysia, Jordon, Saudi Arabia, and Chile. Authentic costumes were worn for each country.

and music was played to set the atmosphere. Approximately 200 people attended the cultural event, learning and sharing about one another's cultural colors as they ate. Tickets were sold for $1.50. Each food item was priced differently and youcould eat as much as the ticket was worth. The profits will be used for a series of films from various countries to be shown on campus this year, which will investigate the cultural, historical, and political aspects the nations are involved in.

Siblings a Success For All

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Breathe a sigh of relief, the siblings are gone. Sibling's Weekend, put on by SAC, was a big success. Thirty people registed with SAC, but an estimated seventy siblings were on campus. All feedback from students has been positive. There was such a wide range of activities that they didn't have a chance to get bored. During both nights The Black Stallion movie was filled to near capacity. The victory of the Flying Dutchmen football team added a boost to the fun-filled weekend. But the highlight for the siblings was the mime, Steve Harris. One hundredthirty people were present at the show

Saturday night. The show was in two parts, one centering around classical mime and the other devoted to clown mime. There was much audience participation which added to the excitment of the show. Nineteen people attended the mime workshop Saturday morning. The workshop lasted an hour and a half and dealt with things like how a walk can express your mood and the importance of facial expressions. All in all, the weekend was great fun for both siblings and their brothers and sisters.

by Ted Bolema Due to problems in the conversion process, Hope College will have to use the Sigma VI a little longer. The conversion to the UNIVAC computer was much more difficult than expected, so the UNIVAC contract has been cancelled and some other systems will now be considered. The new computer was to have arrived this month, and the UNIVAC and the Sigma VI were both going to be used for the rest of the semester. Much of the conversion process was already underway and the computer center had been rearranged to accomodate both systems. Eventually, the Sigma VI was to be phased out, probably during Christmas break when it would be used least. However, according to Provost David Marker, the conversion of a c a d e m i c and administrative programs was found to be more costly and time-consuming than UNIVAC had promised. After consulting with interested faculty and staff. President Van Wylen, Marker, and Vice President for Business and Finance, William Anderson, decided the UNIVAC was no longer practical and cancelled the contract. The UNIVAC system was selected by a committee of six faculty and administra-

tion members last spring, which also found a system by DEC acceptable. However, the cost of purchasing and installing the UNIVAC system was supposed to be less, so it was selected. The same committee will now meet to reassess the College's computer needs. There are only a few systems available which would meet Hope's requirements. Some of the choices are ihe DEC system, another system by Honeywell, the distributor of the Sigma VI, a system from PRIME, and another UNIVAC model. The present UNIVAC is also still a possibility. The college would like to find a system which can handle both academic and administrative programming, but may consider dividing these two functions between two computers. Besides being ancient by today's computer standards, the Sigma VI is becoming more difficult to maintain. Honeywell is no longer training technicians to repair the Sigma VI models, so it is harder and more expensive to keep it up. For these reasons, the College would like to replace it as soon as possible. According to Marker, a decision will be made no later than the end of December about which System Hope will purchase, and hopefully a new computer can be brought in as soon as next semester.

Business Department is Growing by Tim Cronsema The Hope College business department has grown immensely over the past few years. Due to the enormous amount of students becoming interested in business and the addition of a number of faculty members, the department has outgrown its present facilities in Lubber's Hall. The problem is that there isn't enough office space and professors are having to share rooms. The future earth-sheltered administration building is projected as the new home for the business department, but that won't be ready for some time yet. In the interim, the recently acquired Sligh building will serve as the base for the department. "We see it as a temporary solution to reduce the severe overcrowding, "stated Provost David Marker. "Hopefully it will be ready in time for second semester of this year." The move will serve a dual purpose in the College's plans. In addition to easing the overcrowding, it will also benefit the sociology and philosophy departments.

These departments have been suffering from a lack of unified location with each having its professors' offices spread throughout the campus. Marker explained, "We would like to be able to meet the needs of all three departments, and, by shuffling the locations of their offices, we hope to do just that." The move to the Sligh building would mean more offices, conference space and room for students to read newspapers, bulletins, etc. Also, by moving the philosophy and sociology departments into the vacated space in Lubbers, it would give them a stronger departmental identification. However, Marker stressed that the details of these department's moves are still being worked out. "We want to make sure that the sociology department has enough student work areas to go along with their office space and other such considerations for the parties involved." i Marker also pointed out that each department is enthusiastic about the proposed move.

I Anchored Inside SAC On the Go Alien Invades Hope Self-Study in the library


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10-29-1981 by Hope College Library - Issuu